PennDOT, contractor working to set closing date for New Kensington Bridge

When a six-week closure of the New Kensington Bridge will begin is now unclear, a PennDOT spokesman said Friday.

The same is true for the closing of the Freeport Road underpass in East Deer.

In late June, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the Allegheny River bridge between East Deer and New Kensington was tentatively scheduled to close beginning July 17, with July 24 as a backup date.

The northbound Freeport Road lane under the bridge was projected to close a week earlier, on July 10, and be closed longer than the bridge, for 70 days, according to information sent to municipalities.

On Friday, Cowan said the underpass will not close on Monday. The contractor, Swank Construction, and PennDOT are “finalizing the schedule for the long-term closure of the New Kensington Bridge and will provide information to the public as soon as possible,” he said.

Further, the underpass and bridge may close at the same time.

The detour routes that will be posted have not yet been released. Traffic heading north on Freeport Road toward Tarentum is expected to be able to continue straight through the light at the bridge, where vehicles are normally required to turn right onto the bridge.

The nearly century-old bridge originally was expected to be closed next year as part of a two-year, $25 million preservation project that will include a full repainting.

While Swank moved the closure up to this year, the work in total still is expected to be finished in the fall of 2024.

Built in 1927 and the Ninth Street Bridge, the bridge was formally named in 1984 for C.L. Schmitt, a state representative from 1964 to 1980 who died in 1993. About 15,850 vehicles cross it daily.